So.... my starter died on me two Thursdays ago. Had to resort to the good old "pop the clutch" method to get it rolling. I wasn't about to be crawling underneath in the cold so I let a local Ford dealer do it. Of course it happens AFTER the comprehensive warranty runs out, and the powertrain warranty doesn't cover the starter. Oh well. Picked it up this past Tuesday. $345 and some change, which was actually lower than what I was originally quoted. Car starts better than it ever has.

If squeak is coming from the driver side of the motor suspect the camshaft synchronizer. Buy a ford one if you need it - Dorman is utter garbage.
squeak passenger side - could be a pulley.
be sure to do a good flush on your cooling system if it hasn’t been done in last 5 years.

Glad to help a fellow Taurus owner, mine is a 2004 SE and runs like a boss. Have you ever checked the OHMs of your spark plug wires? You might have one or more that are failing at 4500+ rpm. Those OEM coil packs can cause misfires too.

OK. I installed a new belt and it seems to have helped a lot. When I rev the engine it doesn't miss until about 4500 rpm. When driving, I can't detect any missing at all. I never would have figured that belt to be causing the problem. It looks great. I clearly have a lot to learn about the Taurus.....Thanks for the help!

This is my first time posting on this site, and I need some expert advice please.
My Taurus SE is a 2006 model with 25k actual miles. I haven't had any trouble with it until now. I took it on a 200 mile round trip last week & everything was fine. When I next started to take a ride, I noticed that the engine misses at higher rpm. I discovered it like this. I got out to close my gate & thought I heard a little squeaking from under the hood. I reached in and revved the engine and it starts missing above 3200 rpm. There is no check engine light on. When I attached a code reader it does not indicate a problem. Anybody got any ideas?

Changed the oil on Sunday at 7900 miles. Could have gone a bit farther but it was so close that I just decided to do it. Turns out the drainback valve in the old filter was bad. I wondered why I seemed to get extra valvetrain noise on startup.

Yeah, no one makes them anymore, Ford doesn't have any in stock of course, I've checked the JYs, eBay, Amazon, etc.
I'm looking for a trim plate for the stereo for a Gen 3 Taurus with EATC. I was considering having it 3D printed, but I've not found anyone who wants to map it. If they took it on I can guess it would be hundreds of dollars for their time. Fair, but out of my price range.
As noted in my intro, I've got great ideas but the wallet doesn't match, so I am on a budget. If you've got one, a lead on one, or a suggestion of where to look, let me know. If you're selling, please include a pic or two, any defects, and price and shipping to post office box in Oakland, CA 94603.

Hi, I've had my 2007 Taurus for almost 2 years & since day one it's been leaking from the rear break proportioning valve (Ford OEM Brake Load Proportion Valve Sensor). I can't find a replacement near me that isn't online & costing $200 for it. Does anyone know if there is a way to remove it & change it out to something that would be more maintainable?

Take the wiper arms off and remove the wiper cowl. If it’s full of leaves and crud, it’s likely filling up the tray and running down the fresh air ducts.
Usually any water that gets in the tray should drain down under the car on the passenger side near where the evaporative core drains out to.

How do you like it? We wanted a larger size wagon with AWD, and choices were basically the Outback or this, and we didn't like the Outback. We like it, Buick reliability rates high these days, and the year end incentives sealed the deal.